Investor: 'I sat in front of his house in a lawn chair'

That is the question former Dover School Superintendent John O'Connor wants answered after investing $15,000 with Nickolas Skaltsis in February of 2010.

“He was someone who I trusted, valued our friendship and thought my investment was safe with,” O'Connor said in an interview Wednesday. “Shame on me.”

O'Connor, who served as superintendent of schools from 2004 to 2010, invested after he left his position. Skaltsis, a prominent real estate investor and businessman from the Garrison City, who O'Connor has known since Skaltsis served on the School Board in the early 2000s, promised O'Connor 14-percent interest.

Not wishing to receive monthly payments, O'Connor signed a promissory note to receive the full payment at one time, in February 2011.

Around the date the check was due, O'Connor said Skaltsis began to make “a litany of excuses.”

“Jeez, you know, I'm borrowing some money, I'm waiting for my lawyer to finish some paperwork,” O'Connor said were a few of his excuses, adding he, along with the other investors, believed Skaltsis. “We just kept believing him.”

When months went by without receiving a check, O'Connor knocked on Skaltsis' door, called and sent numerous text messages to his phone that went unanswered.

He even went as far as sitting outside Skaltsis' home at 6 Erik Drive this past summer in a lawn chair with a sign demanding Skaltsis return his money.

“I listened to the game, neighbors would go by and wave to me,” O'Connor said.

O'Connor never saw Skaltsis, but did receive a $6,000 check from him in September and another small check five or six weeks later. The first check cashed, but the second check, which O'Connor believed came from a personal account, bounced.

After further efforts to reach Skaltsis, O'Connor continued to come up dry. He did receive one text message from Skaltsis on Oct. 8 that said he was working in Plainfield, Mass. and would be home in the morning.

As reported earlier by Foster's, in late November, Dover police and representatives of the Attorney General's office conducted a search of Skaltsis' home after allegations of investment fraud, Foster's Daily Democrat has learned.

During the search computers and related equipment were confiscated from Skaltsis' home.

The search warrant was issued by the Attorney General's office and sealed by the court at the AG's request.

The warrant was in part the result of multiple civil lawsuits filed in Strafford County Superior Court alleging Skaltsis committed fraud by taking investment money and using it for personal gain or other reasons different from the money's original intention. It is also alleged Skaltsis did not return the money when requested by investors. Those suits claim a total loss of approximately $200,000.

Foster's has also learned an examination is being done of the computers to determine whether Skaltsis had committed any civil or criminal activities regarding the use of funds he received. In addition Foster's has learned it is possible a determination by the Attorney General's office as to whether or not any criminal activity was found may happen sometime in the next two weeks.

To date, O'Connor still has not received the rest of his money and is unaware of the location of Skaltsis. Unable to confirm where he may be, he did say he heard he was in Concord. Jason Botop, an attorney at Coughlin, Rainboth, Murphy & Lown, P.A. in Portsmouth sent Foster's an email Thursday saying they recently attempted to serve Skaltsis with a lawsuit for a plaintiff they represent, “at which time Mr. Skaltsis' wife told the Deputy serving the lawsuit that Mr. Skaltsis was in the N.H. State Hospital.”

Botop said he was unable to confirm if this was true.

Skaltsis' home number is disconnected and his home at 6 Erik Drive remains in darkness.

Strafford County Deputy Sheriff Paul B. Rowe signed a Non-Est on Dec. 6 that states, “As Commanded, I have made a diligent search and have not been able to find the defendant Nickolas Skaltsis, within my precinct.” Rowe was unable to comment further on where Skaltsis is.

Susan Spagnola, the ex-wife of Skaltsis' former business partner, sent Foster's an email on Wednesday stating, “He does have strong ties to the community so he can't have gone too far.”

O'Connor continued to mention the ties he has to the Dover area, saying, “he is well connected.”

In August 2012, O'Connor attended a meeting with a number of other investors who Skaltsis has also allegedly not paid. At the meeting, O'Connor told the other investors that he had sat outside of Skaltsis' home and that he continued to drive by frequently to see if there is any activity going on his property.

O'Connor told the investors at the meeting that Skaltsis most likely was not working at the time because his well-known utility trailer, that he would hitch to his vehicle when on the job, had not moved from his driveway in six months.

“That trailer had not moved all summer,” O'Connor said, adding that the front wheel of the trailer was four inches into the asphalt, indicating it was sedentary.

Within 36 hours of the meeting, the trailer had moved.

“He's so well connected throughout the city,” O'Connor reiterated. He said someone in the meeting had to have relayed the message to Skaltsis.

An anonymous letter, which O'Connor said he did not author, was sent to Dover city councilors and the Foster's newsroom in late October detailing allegations of “fraudulent and illegal investment practices” involving Skaltsis. The letter alleges the misuse of approximately $350,000 by Skaltsis over the past two years.

O'Connor said much of the information discussed at the meeting in August was written about in the letter.

Being one of the few investors, if not the only investor, to have not hired a lawyer, O'Connor said he has been involved in the investigation of Skaltsis. He was brought up to the Attorney General's office for an interview and was a part of a conference call in the fall of 2012, but has not heard any additional information regarding the investigation since.

Although he is not pressing charges, O'Connor is communicating with other investors and continuing to wonder where his money is, where Skaltsis is and how long Skaltsis has been investing money, knowing there would not be a return.

“There is no doubt in my mind,” O'Connor said when asked if he thought Skaltsis knew, when investing his money, that it would not be returned to him and was being used for personal gain. “Only because he was asking so many people.”

O'Connor said, and the anonymous letter also stated, that Skaltsis was soliciting state and local politicians, City Council members, municipal and School District employees, friends and senior citizens. He said he had also heard that Skaltsis would tell people that O'Connor had invested, even before he had, to lure people to accept the offer.

“Frustrating?” O'Connor questioned about the investments by Skaltsis. “No, it is beyond that. It is beyond frustrating.”

Skaltsis attended Dover schools and went to Keene State College. He has a long list of community service within the community. He served as the chairman of the Dover School Board in 2002 and was on the board of directors for Dover Adult Learning in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. He was a member of the city's McConnell Center Advisory Board. He also served as the chairman of the Joint Building Committee and is listed in a DALC newsletter as a donor in the DALC “Come Help Us Grow Campaign.” He was listed as a “Blue Spruces Donor” for up to $499.

Skaltsis owned a lot of property in the area through the years. He used to own the old Masonic Temple Building in Dover's Lower Square back in the 1980s.

According to Executive Director of Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce Molly Hodgson Smith, Skaltsis was a member of the chamber, but his membership was not renewed “as a result of closure of business.”

Skaltsis was elected as a delegate to the Republican State Convention at the State Primary held on Sept. 11, 2012.